Member Article

What do the latest retail figures look like on the ground?

It was very heartening to read recent reports that shop vacancy across the UK is at its lowest rate in four years.

Indeed, research collected by the Local Data Company, which monitors more than 2,000 town centres and retail parks, states that average vacancy rates were below 14% for the first time in four years. This was just the sort of positive news we were looking to see and coincides with other very good news we can report from Royal Quays.

In comparison to January 2013, footfall was up by 11% while spending was up 16% across the board in January this year. There may well be a number of reasons why these figures should be so good, but we are delighted for our tenants that the marketing and planning we have been putting in place has shown such good results. Clearly, we want to see this be evidenced over a number of months, but it is, nonetheless, a very encouraging start to the year.

In line with the national report the centre continues to enjoy low void rates and an increase in the number of enquiries for spaces. We attribute this to the convenience that Royal Quays offers to its customers – free onsite parking and our offering of flexible rent rates catered to individual store requirements.

We have also slowly, but surely, noticed that consumer confidence is lifting, not dramatically but the signs are there – people are staying onsite for longer and spend has increased not in one particular area but across the board.

So what are the reasons for this?

We have 50 stores within the centre, each of whom offer something very different – from your big brands such as NIKE Factory Store, Clarks and M&S Outlet through to independent stores like Enjoymuzic and The Pet Outlet, our customers have a great variety of choice.

With people still keeping an eye on their purse strings, from an outlet perspective it is hard not to beat convenience, quality, variation and a discounted offering on a host of well-known brands!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Royal Quays Outlet Centre .